Lord Austin suspended from housing association for post criticising UN over Hamas tunnel

Communities Secretary Michael Gove has said he is “deeply concerned” with the decision of a housing association to suspend its chair, the former Labour MP Lord Ian Austin, following a post on social media in which he described “Islamist rapists and murderers.”

The Birmingham-based Midland Heart organisation confirmed last week that Lord Austin had been suspended from his role as chair of the board over the post on on X (formerly Twitter), even though the peer had subsequently deleted it, apologised, and clarified that it was a reference to the Hamas terror group’s operations in Gaza.

But Midland Heart chiefs say they plan to hold a further meeting in two weeks time to discuss Austin’s “removal from the board”.

In a February 10th post on X (formerly Twitter), which has since been deleted, Austin had written: “Everyone, better safe than sorry: before you go to bed, nip down and check you haven’t inadvertently got a death cult of Islamist murderers and rapists running their operations downstairs. It’s easily done.”

It appeared to be a reference to reports emerging from Gaza in which the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWA) for Palestine refugees had claimed it had been unaware that an operations centre used by the Hamas terrorist organisation was built directly under their office in the war-torn region.

Following complaints about his use of language, Lord Austin apologised on X saying: “People have complained about a tweet I issued at the weekend about Hamas’ operations centre being underneath UNRWA’s offices.
“It was not my intention to offend anyone and I have deleted it. As I have written and said many times – including in a national newspaper today – the vast majority of Muslims are just as appalled by racism and terrorism as everyone else.”

But Austin’s earlier post continued to attract further criticism, with former Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) president Lara Oyedele among those calling for the peer’s resignation.

Last Friday, Midland Heart chief executive Glenn Harris confirmed they had suspended Austin, claiming the reputation of the organisation had been damaged, and staff angered by his conduct.

It is understood that last Thursday, when the board met, Austin was not invited to attend the meeting but was then told they had decided his position was untenable.

But in a significant intervention own Saturday, Secretary of State Gove said:”I am deeply concerned by Midland Heart’s actions in seeking to remove Lord Austin from their board.”

Gove said he would be demanding an “urgent meeting” and an explanation over the decision, adding Austin was a “champion for affordable housing” who had “spent his career fighting racism.”

The minister also attempted to clarify that while Islam itself was a religion of peace, the use of the word “Islamists” was a reference to “extremists” who “seek to undermine our democratic values” including the terror group Hamas itself.

Lord Austin told the Mail on Sunday: “The word ‘Islamists’ is very clearly a reference not to Muslim people but to extremists. I have said and written repeatedly that the vast majority of Muslims are just as appalled by racism and extremism as anyone else.

“I am really shocked and disappointed that this has happened as a result of politically-motivated bullies orchestrating a malicious campaign on social media to smear me by deliberately misinterpreting my comments and trying to undermine a lifetime’s work fighting racism.

“I am particularly appalled that people are claiming the word ‘Islamist’ refers to all Muslims and it is disgraceful for people to claim this is in some way ‘Islamophobic’.”

Last year the Muslim Council of Britain expressed “deep concern” over the appointment of Austin, Rishi Sunak’s Trade Envoy to Israel as the chair of a review into civil unrest between Muslims and Hindus in Leicester in 2022.